THE HALF DECENT FOOTBALL MAGAZINE

WSC 341 out now

July issue available online and in stores

The new WSC is out now, available from all good newsagents or dispatched on the day of order from the WSC shop.

- FIFA crisis: US corruption probe- Football League season review- Anguish at Aston Villa- Wembley triumph for Norwich- Sensational rise of Darmstadt- Steven Gerrard: last of his kind?

Blazing a trial Chuck Blazer and FIFA"When the FBI swooped in Zurich, and current and former chiefs of the two federations of the Americas were indicted, they would all have been cursing the former general secretary of Concacaf, the central/north American and Caribbean confederation, Chuck Blazer. Chief whistleblower in the process that has brought in the FBI, the US Internal Revenue Service and the Attorney General’s office, his rise and fall has been testimony to what has taken place within FIFA over the last 25 years." Buy here to read the full article

Norwich City 2 Middlesbrough 0Championship play-off final"While the Championship play-off final has long been regarded as the richest game in football, it’s instructive to study how the £120 million prize is divided: half is the £60m parachute payment given to teams relegated from the top flight. That seems to assume that, financially, one of the reasons to get promoted is to come straight back down again.For only the third season in the play-offs’ 28-year history, the finalists in all three divisions were those who finished in the two places immediately below automatic promotion." Buy here to read the full article

Long goodbyes Steven Gerrard"Several Premier League clubs are already facing up to the same problem: the irreplaceability of certain departing – or assumed to be departing – players. Manchester United seem resigned to losing David de Gea, while their city rivals are still trying to replace the waning influence of Yaya Touré. But it’s at Liverpool where a gaping hole has been left in the squad for a second year in succession, with the departure of Steven Gerrard to Los Angeles. Viewed purely in terms of impact on the pitch, Gerrard’s leaving is a world away from that of Luis Suárez the previous summer." Buy here to read the full article

Life support Aston Villa's anguish"A friend of mine, a doctor in a busy hospital, says the patients at death’s door fall into two distinct categories. There are the ones who respond to grave illness with a saintly euphoria and a devout conviction that everything will turn out just fine. “Optimists,” he says. “The mortuary is full of them.” Yet there are the others, who moan about the state of the food, or the central heating being on too high, or the fact that the nurse threw away the Daily Mirror before they’d had a chance to read it. Those patients will outlive us all." Buy here to read the full article

AvailabilityWSC is the only nationally available independent football magazine in the UK, and you can get it monthly for a very reasonable £3.25. You should be able to find a copy in your local newsagent, otherwise outlets that stock WSC include WH Smith, mainline train stations plus selected Tescos. If you're having trouble finding the magazine, you could do one of the following: